Back-to-School Drive
On Saturday, August 3, we hosted our 4th annual Back-to-School Drive at Saunders Park in the Mount Vernon neighborhood in the Northeast corner of Columbus, where over 100 backpacks filled with school supplies were distributed to families, with an additional 230 backpacks that were distributed to our partners at Star House; Justice, Unity, and Social Transformation (JUST); and Just Choice. Neighborhood kids enjoyed a bounce house, snow cones, and a giant chess game while their parents learned more about how to get more involved with OWA and our partners! This was our first year hosting the drive in Mt. Vernon, and we were happy to expand our reach to build new relationships, provide tools and resources to Columbus families, and introduce them to Ohio Women’s Alliance and the work that we do through our Ohio Rising youth empowerment programming.
Ohio Rising is integral to our mission to build a powerful, sustainable movement for Reproductive Justice in Ohio. RJ includes the right to live in safe, sustainable, healthy communities, which means:
families and youth have the resources they need
families and youth have access to the knowledge and tools to be civically engaged, empowering us to make lasting change in our communities, and
children learn about Reproductive Justice, bodily autonomy, and how to step into their power as young leaders
Each year, our Ohio Rising program works to achieve these goals through our Back-to-School drive, Reproductive Justice Table fellowship, and RJ 101 initiative which provides education and training to hundreds of high school and college students across Ohio. We have to invest in our future leaders today if we expect them to carry on the fight to build a better Ohio, and OWA takes pride in the multi-pronged approach to resourcing and empowering young leaders.
We are grateful for our partners— People Justice Project, ABC Black Iconic Figures, and Royal Oak Initiative Chess Club—whose contributions added to the success of this year’s drive, along with our generous sponsors—New Voices for Reproductive Justice and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio!